Security and network scope

Updated: 14 October 2026.

AnonymFiles sends no document and no name off your computer, and you can check it. The only thing that leaves is the reviewed copy you choose to give to an AI, and you are the one who sends it.

What the app doesn't do

• No account, no online activation, no online license check.
• No telemetry: no usage statistics, no startup ping, no file counter.
• No chat or AI in the cloud: the app talks to no AI. You decide which copy to share, and with whom.
• No local server or open port for the interface: the engine talks to the interface through its standard input and output, and the app's views have no network access.

What it does on your computer

• Detection of names, organizations, addresses, contact details and private dates by two models installed on the computer, and of e-mails, phone numbers and IBANs by rules.
• Export: in a PDF, each masked passage becomes a black box carrying its label, and the text underneath is actually deleted, not just covered; the layout stays that of the original. Hidden layers (metadata, annotations, forms, links, bookmarks, attachments) are removed. A Word document gives a redacted .docx with the same layout, without comments or tracked changes, plus a text copy for the AI.
• File names become neutral on export, and an index lists exported and excluded documents.
• Originals are never modified, and the export never contains the mapping table.

When in doubt, nothing is exported

• If the detection model fails to load or fails, export stays blocked: no silent fallback to partial detection.
• An encrypted or unreadable document is excluded and flagged, never half-copied.
• An approved document must be approved again if the original, the rules or the copy change.

A signed and notarized Mac app

The Mac app is signed (Developer ID) and notarized by Apple, and its detection models are included. The Windows version is in preparation.

The only network access

On a Mac, the detection models are included in the app: no connection, not even on first launch. On Windows, these public models are downloaded once, on the first processing run; no document text is included in those requests. After that, everything works offline.

Where your data is

• Workspaces are in your user folder (on a Mac, under ~/Library/Application Support, with access restricted to your account; on Windows, under %APPDATA%).
• The mapping table is encrypted by the app (AES-256-GCM, key protected by the system keychain). Also turn on disk encryption (FileVault on a Mac, BitLocker on Windows).
• If you delete the workspace, its mapping table goes with it: putting the real names back then becomes impossible.

Check it yourself

• On a Mac, turn off Wi-Fi right after installing; on Windows, after the first processing run: processing is identical.
• On an exported PDF, do the copy-paste test: the masked text is no longer there.
• An application firewall (LuLu or Little Snitch on a Mac) shows any connection attempt. On Windows, let the first model download happen, then block the app in Windows Defender Firewall: processing continues.

The details are in our article on the published detection benchmark and how to check offline operation yourself.

Known limits

• Scanned PDFs and images are read by local OCR; a stamp or handwritten note the OCR cannot read is masked during review.
• No automatic detection is perfect: each document is reviewed side by side before export. Amounts are masked by hand.
• The rules recognize French-format phone numbers and IBANs from nine European countries; a disguised e-mail (for example “firstname [at] domain”) can slip through.
• Putting real names back restores a text, a Word file or a tagged PDF; in a PDF, the value is rewritten in Helvetica, not in the original font.